Ok, when I heard this a few weeks ago on the Glenn Beck program, I was a little astonished that a supposedly honorable, Christian Man and former pastor like Mike Huckabee would sell such a thing. But according to the Arkansas Times, and later picked up by other sites, he was heard on the radio pitching for this product of Barton Publishing.

Apparently, Barton Publishing has hadnumerous complaints against them. Among them are charges of false charges on Credit Cards, essentially that’s fraud.

And people wonder why I keep putting Mike Huckabee as someone on DaTechGuy’sPoison Poll. Shame I couldn’t add a third or fourth guy there, as my others are Jeb Bush and Lindsey Graham. I must admit Donald Trump is rapidly on my radar for being considered poison as well for the Republican Party. If any one of these guys gets in, it will not help a party that is flailing and on the verge of failure. This is not to be interpreted as an endorsement for the Democrats though.

The days of me remaining Republican are rapidly dwindling if this continues.

Virginia’s ban on same-sex Marriage declared unconstitutional. The judge’s ruling fails the test on whether it violates the Constitution of the United States, as his ruling is prima facie, on the “Declaration of Independence”, which while respected as a basis for the laws of our land, isn’t LAW itself. Also, from looking there may be a conflict on Article 1 – Sections 1 and 15A of the Constitution of Virginia…

Article 1 Section 15-A. Marriage.

“That only a union between one man and one woman may be a marriage valid in or recognized by this Commonwealth and its political subdivisions. This Commonwealth and its political subdivisions shall not create or recognize a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance, or effects of marriage. Nor shall this Commonwealth or its political subdivisions create or recognize another union, partnership, or other legal status to which is assigned the rights, benefits, obligations, qualities, or effects of marriage.”

The amendment ratified November 7, 2006, and effective January 1, 2007—Added a new section (15-A).

Article 1 Section 1. Equality and rights of men.

“That all men are by nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.”

This is problematic. However, on the face, the district judge made a bad ruling.

For those who don’t know, the phrase “Sin Publica” means “Without Politics”. This is one article that will be devoid of political comment or commentary. If you are of the political bent, feel free to skip over this article. Please note I’m not a frequent blogger… as a matter of fact as you can see, this is my first article in MONTHS.

Anyhow, this is going to go through a playthrough of an old game called Wizardry 8. It’s the third game of a particular story series starting with Wizardry 6: Bane of the Cosmic Forge, followed by Wizardry 7: Crusaders of the Dark Savant. All of these games follow several items in particular and the Ascension go through the process of becoming a cosmic lord, a being akin to a god:

1) The Cosmic Forge – a pen which if anything is written with it, it becomes true
2) The Astral Dominae – the key to life itself
3) The Chaos Moliri – the key to change
4) The Destinae Dominus – the key to knowledge

However, before we begin, we need a characters. Since Wizardry 7 is pre-Windows XP and Wizardry 6 is Pre Windows 95, it will be a little harder to play a game from that far back, unless you decide to REALLY go retro, and bring the characters through both games. Ergo, we start as (mostly) clueless adventurers who end up on a spaceship. Also, please note my choice of characters may not be the same as what others may use. I will however go through as someone who has been through a fair deal of the game.

Now there are a number of races, among them Human, Elf, Dwarf, Gnome, and Hobbit are the most familiar to people. The exotic races are Mook (think wookie but have better speech patterns), Rawulf (anthropomorphic canines), Felpurr (anthropomorphic felines), Dracon (yeah, like a dragon), Faerie (small and with butterfly wings) and Lizardman (not a creative name, but effective).

There are several pure classes: Fighter, Mage, Priest, Psionic, Alchemist, Rogue, and Gadgeteer. They are pure as in they really don’t branch outside of their classes that much, if at all. Also here is the Bard, though it is in many ways considered a hybrid, it’s a pure due to XP requirements. XP requirements of pure classes are typically smaller than hybrid classes. Since I’m not going to make use of Music or Gadgeteering, or any pure class in general, these classes will not be included in the party.

There are two classes called “Elite” classes. They are the Ninja (Rogue/Alchemist Throwing Weapon Specialist), and the Bishop (Caster Class Hybrid). They have the steepest XP requirements since they can become absolutely deadly at higher levels.

After looking at the races and classes I’ve made the following decisions, for role-playing and aesthetic purposes:

The first support character will be a Mook Ranger. Mook for aesthetic and role-playing purposes, and Ranger since the other classes he is good for are pure classes (Psionic, Gadgeteer, Fighter, and Bard). He’ll need help with speed, or a healthy senses boost to aid in initiative.

Since I have eliminated all other casting characters, the Bishop will be the sole caster. Alas, since gnomes are poorly distributed in points, they are out of the running for the Bishop. The choices are Human, Elf, and Faerie. Faerie are the best spell casters of the bunch, bar none, but they are poor when it comes to equipment. We’re not worried about carrying requirements for a bishop, but we would like some nice equipment to be available. Humans are good as hybrid characters, scarily so, but we’re trying to limit the number of humans in the party to maybe one. Ergo by process of elimination, we will choose the Elf, solid caster, and not quite as fragile as the faerie.

This leaves four other characters. There should be at least two main line fighters. The best choices for primary main line fighters are Fighter, Valkyrie, Lord, and Samurai. Secondary choices would be Monk, Ninja and Rogue. Rogue and Fighter, being pure classes are out.

The Valkyrie can be obtained as a recruitable player character (RPC) very early on in the first city we come across. This must be taken into consideration.

Each member of the party will be an original class. RPC’s can double up if need be.

One of the best aesthetic RPC’s is an android monk. He has no latent psionic ability but can become a hand-to-hand destroyer. He’s in the late part of the early game to early part of the mid-game.

Samurai can make use of an armor very early on in the first dungeon, the monastery, and come with two swords to begin the game. And the Samurai RPC starts out very weak.

The Lord RPC doesn’t come until much later into the game. Neither does the ninja RPC.

After all is said and done, I do like Samurai. Critical hits are really good. If we want dual-wield, the Lord is the better choice. Another polearm would bring out a Valkyrie.

The frontline fighters will be a Rawulf Valkyrie, and a Felpurr Samurai, which make four.

The fifth will be a human ninja, more critical goodness. There, we have our human.

The sixth is a choice between a Lord and a Monk. Since the Monk has another casting ability possible, we’ll take a Monk. That will be a Faerie. We’ll make her a staff monk since hand-to-hand might prove dangerous.

Many things are happening in the political realm, especially with the Government Shutdown, but that will take a brief backseat to an old favorite of mine, games, and what I used to do in High School and College – and that’s reviewing them.

Going by the reviewer’s stats are half the story, granted if that half is bad, you more than likely have a bad game. But what about the people who actually PLAY the games themselves? Some call this the “User Score” and it has just as much import as the reviewer stat. Combined, it gives a VERY good picture of what to look for in the game. However, if there is a significant disconnect in the scores between the reviewer scores and the user scores, that in of itself can be a big warning sign, maybe requiring a more in depth look before buying.

The example I have before me is Rome II – Total War. The Total War series is a favorite of mine combining RTS micromanagement battlefield strategy with turn-by-turn map macro-management strategy. I actually looked forward to this game, but looking at metacritic.com gave me pause. The link with the reviews of the game are here.

The metascore – or average reviewer score is 78/100, which usually indicates a game of very solid quality. Anything above 70 is usually nothing to worry about if you are a fan of the genre in question. HOWEVER, the user score is 3.8/10 or 38/100. This is a disconnect of 40 points between the two! While the reviewers seem to like the game, the players by and large do NOT. This is something that gives a major pause before buying it.

On the reviewer side, there are 46 positive reviews, 15 neutral and 5 negative. Sounds like a favorable ratio. Then the user side… ouch.

272 positive reviews, 110 neutral, 902 negative reviews.

My advice is this… see if someone you know has it, is willing to let you play for a bit. If you like it, buy it. Do your own research first.

Not I, of course, but the democrats who overwhelmingly supported it, and as a result nearly lost the Senate and losing the house in 2010?

Two reasons – pork… and a ton of it. I think there is more pork, or appropriations in the bill than regulations in the bill itself, but I’m not too sure of it. But here, in a 2011 article are the major recipients from the bill. The question then becomes who profits from it?

Reason two – who is exempt? I mean really, if the omnibus was to be good for everyone, why wouldn’t everyone want to be on it? Also, what about the Obamacare waivers? Why wouldn’t companies want to be part of this? Looks like there are potentially six types of waivers.

Jeff Kuhner of AM 680 WRKO yesterday said on his radio show that our system before Obamacare, in describing hospitals here and in Canada, that our hospitals here are “Hotels” compared to the horrid experience his then 71-year old grandmother went through after she suffered a stroke. She lay on the gurney in the hospital for three days, never once being shown to a room, and eventually dying without even being treated. This is what led his family to leave Canada and emigrate to the United States.

Everything that I’m reading on Syria is making my head spin. I’m not sure what everything means, but I know from what I’ve seen that this is a major disaster waiting to happen. Especially since I don’t believe there is a whole lot of THINKING going on. What are the points on going to war? The first and foremost is this:

How does this protect, defend or aid the United States of America?

An honest answer to the above question is this… it does not, on ANY of the points. Anyone who says otherwise really needs to prove their point since I have heard NOTHING that it does… save the integrity of the President of the United States.

On one side is the Assad Regime, which is decidedly unfriendly with the United States. The other is the rebel-group backed by Al-Qaeda… which I doubt will be friendly once they get into power. The only people who may be on our side at all are the PEOPLE of Syria, who are fleeing the country by the millions.

There are the next questions to ask.

What is the price of inaction?

I won’t lie, the price may be very high. Our reputation as a nation may be very badly damaged since the Red Line was set by the president (and is currently being painted over), and crossed multiple times. The allegations are that Assad gassed his own people. The Secretary of State, John Kerry says it’s “Beyond a Reasonable Doubt.” Forgive me… but living in a state where Kerry’s been a Senator for most of my adult life, I can say that I have very little trust in anything this man says.

The loss of trust that we can be a nation who’s word can be trusted, from Administration to Administration, is however a MAJOR blow.

That being said, what is the price of acting?

Russia is actively protecting their ally, Syria with a naval presence in the region. They may very well sell more weapons to Syria or worse yet, if a military intervention from the U.S. garners enough provocation, react with a military response. Iraq didn’t have Russia as an ally during either Desert Storm or Enduring Freedom. Afghanistan was actively against Russia.

Obama I doubt realizes the military situation over there, and if he does, he is either NOT listening to his military advisers, or is ignoring them entirely.

Another thing is… can he get the support at home? Everything I’m seeing and reading is saying… not even close. Even my most liberal friends on Facebook seem to be against this idea of military action in Syria. There is Bipartisan Support in the Vox Populi… AGAINST military action.

In going over the points of Sun Tzu… this seems to fail a HUGE MAJORITY of the litmus tests to go to war. A waste of resources, a waste of lives, and the possibility of descending into an even LARGER conflict. Sun Tzu argues there are five fundamental factors – weather, terrain, command, doctrine, and moral influence.

In this case we question the last three. Command, Doctrine and Moral Influence.

The Command of our military can’t really be questioned. Our Commander in Chief has ZERO experience with the military and is not really liked by them.

The Doctrine seems questionable at best… as it seems the only purpose of this war with Syria seems to be either poor decision making… or a distraction for something else.

The Moral Influence is uniting both sides of the public… against the President. I must admit this is only to those who are LISTENING. Most of the public may not even be paying attention, and sadly won’t pay attention until buildings start crumbling or cities go up in smoke.

I’m in the opinion that this is a distraction from something else. Possibly immigration, or the implementation of ObamaCare.

People need to pay attention again… but it’s sometimes too much for some people to take in, and it’s too depressing when we have other options to take our cares away.

Unless my preschool math skills have gone to waste, that’s only EIGHT. In addition one democrat either did a King Narcissus I vote (essentially voting “Present”) or wasn’t there to cast a vote (Lautenberg D-NJ). So that’s only nine democrats who didn’t vote NAY.

By the tally in the link, FORTY-FOUR Democrats voted “NAY”. FORTY-SIX traitorous liberals voted “NAY”, and two of them are alleged “Independents”.

Of the New England States… ugh… fellow patriots we are essentially in either enemy or contested territory here: